Jesse Bullington's The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart

"When I say I love a dark fantasy I'm not talking about snacking on a sneaky Bourneville in the bath.

No, I mean a story that has fantasy elements but is uncluttered by the cliched damning of simplistic good versus evil moralities and is bereft of square jawed knights and androgynous elves.

Which is why rather liked The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington.

This first time author has crafted a genuine one-off with his tale of big bearded hoodlums legging it across the Alps in the fourteenth century, pursued by a hanging jury, a vengeful farmer and half the cast of Grimm's Fairytales.

In essence it's a road story as the illiterate brothers Grossbart, graverobbers by trade and instruments of the Lord's wrath by accident, decide to head south for the rumoured riches of 'Gyptland's' sepulchres.

Before leaving their home in Germany they decide to pay off a debt to their neighbour and in the process slit his son's throat and kill the rest of his family.

This terrible crime sets off a chain of events which gradually snowballs as Hegel and Manfried rack up enemies across southern Europe in a sort of Cannonball Run meets Dante's Inferno.

The point of view is the world as seen through the eyes of a fourteenth century peasant. So witches and devils are met with more or less little concern. Haven't they always been told such things exist?

And besides, all foes human or demonic, are swept aside by their combination of luck, ratlike cunning and getting their retaliation in first.

In an intriguing twist the thoroughly amoral brothers believe themselves divine instrument's of The Virgin Mary's will so while everyone else they meet falls to death and corruption they are blissfully unchanging even as they head to an inevitable but unpredictable end.

While the novel begins with a bang and accelerates at breakneck speed around the two thirds mark I found it sagged and struggled to the finish.

But I'd still recommend giving it a read for its unique authorial voice, genuinely medieval mindset and often laugh out loud funny so-stupid-they're-clever theological debates.